Unlimited Universe
by DementedFrosty
Summary: What happens when a game of exploration turns into a fight for survival? What happens when your normal life changes into something extraodinary? When these thing happen to Asher Blaise, how will he find his new life? This is not really a SAO fanfiction.


**Unlimited Universe**

A New Way to Play

**Location Unknown**

** Year, 2142 A.D. **

** Objective: Explore the Universe and Create New Star Ways**

** Dreadnaught Class Starship: Pillar of Stars **

"Hey, how much longer are you going to be?"

Turning around, a figure wearing a set of standard Federation equipment; for use in hazardous environments or for use in space; shrugged their shoulders. "I'm not sure. I've never seen a system like this before and have no idea how to proceed."

"Well, have you learned anything?"

Nodding, the figure unplugged the data pad connected to the terminal and stood up. "Yeah, I've learned the name of the ship."

"Okay? What is it?"

"It's called the Pillar of Stars."

The other figure shook his head and looked down the long hallway," well that's fancy isn't it. Alright, let's go find the others. Maybe they found out where this monster came from."

"Who are you people, and how did you get on board?"

Both figures whipped around and saw what looked like a girl standing behind them. They both pulled out their pistols and pointed them at her. "Who are you," asked one of them.

Shaking her head the girl blankly looked at them," I believe I asked that first. Do you actually know how hard it was to ask that question? First I had to learn your language from that thing you plugged into me, and then I needed to hear it out loud. It was really annoying."

Looking at her like she was insane, both of them looked at each other, nodded, and then reached out to grab her. Unfortunately, they both stumbled as they passed right through her. Once they regained their footing, both looked at her in slight amazement. One of them then shouted suddenly," she's an AI!"

The girl sighed and nodded," yes, I am. Do you know how rude that was? Well, whatever. You should first tell me who you are and how you got on board before he shows up."

Looking at each other in confusion then looked back," Before who shows up?"

"That's not really important, just tell me who you are-"

"AAAAHHHHH, Get off of me!"

After hearing the sudden scream of his partner, he turned to see a heavily armored figure holding a large knife to him. He would have tried to help him but unfortunately, there was a pistol pointed right at him. He heard the AI sigh once more and he turned slightly to look at her," too late now I guess. Hold on I need to give him the translation data."

A few moments later, the newcomer looked right at the man. He shivered as the eyes on the man's helmet started glowing bright green," who are you and what are you doing on my ship?"

**Five Weeks Earlier**

Getting up from his couch, Asher Blaise took off the head gear that was connected to his controller and placed it on the coffee table. Sighing he stood up and shut off his system," well that's it then." Moving out of the living room he thought back on the day's events. First he logged into Universe Unlimited, then he, along with fifty other players, set out to explore a new star system when they were attacked by a renegade group of players. They had been outnumbered and were forced to flee. In total they had four ships counting his own but the enemy had roughly around twenty.

Since Blaise's ship was a dreadnaught class, it stood the best chance of fending off their attackers while the others jumped into subspace out of the system. Unfortunately, once the others had jumped, the enemy had blocked off his retreat and he was forced to jump without the use of a star way. And with that, Blaise suddenly had a ton of free time, jumping without a star way was a time consuming process. It was the one downside to Universe Unlimited.

Walking into the kitchen he yawned and noticed that his mother left him a note. She had gone shopping and he was on his own for a few hours. Since there was really nothing to do until his ship finished jumping, he decided to finish his homework. He quietly went upstairs to his room and began to finish his project that would have normally been forgotten until the last second.

After a few hours had gone by, his phone started ringing, and seeing who it was, he answered it. "Tucker, did you guys get out of there alright?"

"Yeah," the voice on the other end replied," but what the hell happened? Was your ship destroyed?"

Sighing, Asher pinched the bridge of his nose," No, but I couldn't access the star way and had to jump without one."

"Harsh, so how long until you get to play again?"

Checking his account quickly on his phone, Blaise saw a timer and sighed," at least a week."

"Well, I hope you can find something to do until then."

"Me too, I'm just glad I don't have a crew like the Triumphant Light, no one else has to suffer because I made the decision to jump into unexplored space."

"Yeah, because if I was on your ship with you I would probably kill you for what you did. How does Luna feel about it?"

"She's a little angry at me, but she understands why I had to do it. I'll log in every now and then to keep her company." Hearing a car pull up to the house, Blaise looked out of the window and saw his mother's car," sorry, I got a go looks like my mom needs some help."

"Alright, I'll talk to you later Asher."

With that he hung up and went downstairs to help his mother carry in the groceries. Afterwards he helped her make dinner and then went to bed, hoping that the week would go by quickly.

**Line break**

After a long and boring week filled with nothing but school and homework, Blaise ran home with the hope of finally being able to get back onto Universe Unlimited. As he rounded the corner to the street he lived on he suddenly stopped. Looking onward to his house he saw several cars, all black with tinted windows, and men in black suits all over the yard. He slowly walked forward, not sure if there was something wrong with his mother or if he somehow got into a lot of trouble.

As he got close enough to one of the cars, one of the doors opened, and a man wearing a navy blue suit stepped out. The man looked to be in his late thirties, he was Caucasian with wavy blond hair that reached his shoulders and was wearing sunglasses. He instantly turned towards Asher and held out his hand. "Asher Blaise, it's so good to meet you."

"Right," Blaise said as he looked cautiously at the man's hand," and who are you?"

"Oh, that's right. How rude of me. It seems that I have you at a disadvantage. My name is Jeremy Renner, and I have come a long way to meet you Mr. Blaise."

Blaise thought for a moment, where had he heard that name before. Suddenly it hit him," you're the creator of Universe Unlimited!"

Jeremy chuckled," yes I am young man. Now why don't we go inside and talk."

After walking inside Asher's house, they found his mother sitting on the couch in the living room not looking happy at him. At this, Blaise decided to sit on the far side of their couch while Renner took a chair close by.

"Asher I swear if you did something illegal I will hurt you so bad you're going to feel it for the rest of your life."

At this Jeremy held up his hands," I assure you Ms. Blaise that is not the case. Actually, I have a very intriguing offer for him. But first I think we need to do some trivia."

Both Blaise's looked at each other, somewhat confused, then waited for him to continue. "Tell me Asher, why is Universe Unlimited so popular."

"W-well, it's an online mmorpg that lets people explore an ever expanding universe. It's been out ten years and over two billion people play it worldwide. What makes it so interesting is the fact that as people continue to move through the universe, new planets, star systems, and even galaxies are created. In ten years, five galaxies have been discovered and millions of planets have been explored. Also, the fact that new life forms continue to be created.

It's a game where you can have whatever adventure you want. Everything you do effects the universe, say you kill an npc, they will stay dead forever. They are unable to respawn and that can affect the universe in many ways. And when you discover new planets, anything can happen. New worlds where anything can be done.

There have been worlds where you can learn magic, or how to fight with giant robots, even worlds that are in medieval times. And the many different species that make up the five galaxies have become great allies and even fierce enemies.

After discovering the third galaxy we got into a conflict with a race of giant spiders called the Spidrex. It became a galactic scale war that lasted four years. Unfortunately, it ended with the near extinction of their race and the total devastation of their home world."

Chuckling again, Jeremy gave Blaise a large smile," if I remember correctly, you played a large part in those events."

Asher frowned and looked away," I'd rather not talk about that please."

"Very well, but while were still on this matter, why didn't you ask for a bigger reward. All you wanted was that ship, what was it called, oh yeah the 'Pillar of Stars.' A ship, might I add, that you stole."

When his mother heard this she looked right at Blaise," Asher, you stole a ship? I wonder how you're going to explain this to me." Asher tried not to look at his mother, who was clearly fuming at the fact that he stole something that wasn't technically real. Sadly, it didn't matter to her whether or not it was real, he still stole something and that was wrong to her. "You are so grounded once this is done."

"Right, well. I stole it so that a war could end. And the reason it was the only thing I asked for was because it was all I wanted. I know they offered me any planet I wanted for me to keep, but I'm not quite ready to own a planet."

Jeremy nodded in understanding. Out of the two billion people that played Universe Unlimited, not even half of the owned their own planet. Most just wanted adventures and not take the large responsibility of having to take care of a planet full of people. "Well then I understand. Now then, can you tell me the one downside of Universe Unlimited?"

"The one fatal flaw of Universe Unlimited is the jump system. Each star ship has a jump drive that allows them cross large distances by entering a pocket of subspace. It takes a short time to move from one end of the galaxy to another, but that is only with the use of star ways, which are created when new planetary systems are found or when galaxies are discovered.

Normally, it takes an hour or two cross from one system to another, and about a day to cross galaxies. When a star way hasn't been discovered, it takes about a week to stop jumping. Usually, players let the administrators find new systems and galaxies and then go to further explore them."

After the long explanation, Jeremy nodded once more," that's correct, and why I came to see you today. You recently jumped without a star way didn't you?"

"Yeah, my ship was outnumbered and the star way was blocked off by the enemy. It was either jump or let my ship be destroyed, and I wasn't going to let that happen."

"I guess that explains why you did it then. Well, I have some interesting news for you." Blaise just raised an eyebrow wondering what it could possibly be. He then watched a Jeremy pulled out a data pad and turned it on, placing it on the table he turned it towards Blaise. "As you can see here, this is a map showing the five galaxies currently available in Universe Unlimited. Now, since you were forced to jump," he started then tapped the pad a few times and Asher watched as the map started going out and showing more galaxies," Fifteen new galaxies have been formed."

"How is that possible," Blaise asked in amazement. He grabbed the data pad and started sifting through the data. As he continued to look, he started growing confused. He looked and looked, but couldn't find what he was looking for," where's my ship?"

"That's why where here," Jeremy stated as he sat back in the chair," we have no idea where your ship is. We also didn't feel right going into your account and poking around in it."

Asher stood up and ran upstairs, he grabbed all his Universe Unlimited gear and took it downstairs. Quickly, he hooked everything up to the living room television. He grabbed his controller and his head gear and placed it on his head," hold on I need to see if it's alright."

He quickly logged in and found his avatar on the bridge of his ship and sighed in relieve. "Well it's about time you showed up, I didn't know what I was going to do if you didn't appear soon." Turning his avatar, Blaise saw the familiar form of the Pillar of Stars AI, Luna. She stood there with a smile on her face.

Luna looked just like a normal girl, and if it wasn't for the fact that you could just pass right though her, you'd think she was real. She was about five foot six and had silver hair that went to her waist, and ocean blue eyes. She wore a white dress that went down to her knees and had suntanned skin, even though she's never actually been able to tan. She chose what she looked like and hadn't changed once in the time Blaise knew her.

"Luna, I need you to find where we are. Get all of the mapping and spatial data you can. I need to talk to someone and I'll be back soon." He then watched as Luna nodded and faded away to start her task, and logged off to finish talking with Jeremy.

Asher looked at Jeremy," so what are we going to do?" Jeremy gave Asher a smile and chuckled a little. "Well, that's what we wanted to talk to you about. First of all, we wanted to congratulate you for going farther than anyone ever has in Universe Unlimited. Secondly, I want to offer you a job."

"A job? What kind of job?"

"Well, we currently have no idea what has happened to you in the game. This is something that has never happened before, and we want to find out why it happened. One of the tasks this job will require is for you to explore the region of space that you are in. Where ever it is. Next, you will need to make contact with any species you come into contact with, whether human or not."

Asher raised an eyebrow," I assume that this would be to find any galactic scale threats?"

"Right, now we need to discuss the most important part. We are currently testing new technologies in virtual reality. We are trying to make something that uses brain waves to control everything you do in the game. We have had great success in making a prototype that could take you into the game. It would give you the feeling of actually being there. All of your senses could be used in the game. You can even taste the food and breathe in the air.

"Unfortunately, there is a downside. Since it is a prototype, once you go into the game, you would be unable to come back out. It is a problem we are working extremely hard on, but it will be at most five years to completion. What I want to ask you is, even knowing that you wouldn't be able to come back, would you accept the job and go into the game?"

Asher's mother stood up from the couch and shouted," My son will not be killing himself in some game. He needs to stay here and help with family matters. I won't allow you to take him for something so ridiculous."

Asher thought for a moment, and after a short while, he spoke up," Mr. Renner, how much would I be getting paid to do this?"

"ASHER, don't you dare think about accepting."

"We would be willing to pay a substantial amount for your services."

Getting up from the couch, Asher took his mother's arm and pulled her out of the room." If you'll excuse us for a moment." Asher kept dragging his mother along until they were in the kitchen.

"Mother, I'm going to accept their offer."

"WHAT? What are you talking about? How can you thing of playing some game when I need you here to help out. What about your sister. You know that we are in debt over our heads and that you can't be doing something so-"

"It's because of Marie that I'm going to do this," he shouted at her. His mother stared at him with a look of shock. She then let him continue," mom, I know that money's running thin, but if they are offing us enough money, we could pay for Marie's surgery and hospital fees. I know he said that I wouldn't be coming back from this, but if it can help save Marie, I'll do anything."

Asher looked at his mother, who now had tears falling from her eyes. He pulled her into a hug, and held her tight," I know it might be hard, but I need to do this. Please understand." He felt her nod into his chest, and he let her go. Asher left the room and went back to the living room. Sitting back on the couch, he was giving the data pad and there was a contract on the screen.

"I advise you look over all of it before making your decision," Jeremy said.

It took about an hour to get through most of it, and Asher did have some comments about it. "You're going to make a television series using the data collected?" He saw Jeremy nod," yes, we plan on showing everyone what you do. It will also so people just how realistic the game will be. Also, with your permission, we want to make a series about how you stopped the Spidrex. We would use your past data and connect some of the dots that were left out of the initial report. I know that there are many people who see you as a villain, and we want to show them what really happened that day."

He thought it over for a moment, and Asher decided it wasn't such a bad idea," All right, I suppose it's about time people find out what happened."

After another hour, Asher was finally done reading the contract. He laughed a little," when you say substantial, you really are underplaying it. That is a lot of zero's. And this is a yearly amount?"

Jeremy also laughed and nodded," well we just want to be fair. Once you sign the contract, your family will receive that amount starting tomorrow." Nodding, Asher gave the contract one last glance before picking it up and signing it. "Well, I guess I'll be going by my gamer tag from now on," he said with a smile," I suppose you should just call me Blaze."

**Line break**

**Present Day**

The door opened showing what looked like the bridge of the ship. A lone figure walked in and headed for the front of the room. There were several area's for different operations. The figure could see navigation, weapons, and even shield operations. Finally lying eyes on what looked like a command chair, the figure walked up to it and took their helmet off. Long hair fell out from the helmet and a feminine face came along with it.

The woman had high cheek bones, big round eyes, and full lips. Her hair was a dark red and her eyes were bright hazel. Taking out a data pad, the woman took one of the cords and plugged it into the chair. She sat down as the data was translated. After a minute or two, things started appearing on the pad.

**Ship designation: Pillar of Stars**

** Ship captain: Blaze**

** Crew number: 1**

** AI: Luna**

** Life sign number: 9**

The woman had to look at the last part a second time, nine life signs. They only brought eight people on this expedition. Suddenly the woman's eyes widened in realization. She lifted her right arm to use the communications system so she could warn the others. But before she could say anything, she heard the sound of a charging weapon.

Turning her head to the right, she found herself looking down the sights of a large pistol. She looked straight into the glowing green eyes of a figure in hulking armor. She couldn't find any words to say, but the figure found some of their own. "It will probably be good for you to know that the rest of your crew is in lock up. Since you seem to be the last of them, why don't we have a little talk?"

** Thank you to those who have read this. Please review it I would like to know any problems you have with it. This is also my first Original work. If you do review it, I would like you to be nice about it, but I understand if you might think it's bad. One day, if this series gets popular enough, I will edit it so that it is worthy of you readers. Also I put it on this site because I don't think you fan people go to the other site fiction press. So I'm going to make it as a SOA fanfic, even though it is not. Hope you like it. **


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